Sheffield United have received a bid for defender Max Lowe from Olympiacos, following his loan spell at Nottingham Forest.
Both the Reds and the Greek outfit are owned by Evangelos Marinakis. YorkshireLive report an opening offer has been made, and the Blades have informed Olympiacos of their valuation as talks are expected to continue.
Although his time at the City Ground was hampered by injuries, Lowe was a key player for Forest as they secured promotion to the Premier League. After being sidelined since March, he came off the bench for the final 15 minutes at Wembley as a return to the top-flight was sealed with victory over Huddersfield Town.
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The Reds are believed to have made an attempt to sign the left-back permanently in January but were rebuffed. With that in mind, it is said United will be “wary” of any deal and the possibility Lowe could then be loaned to Forest - that leaves the Championship side “willing to play hard ball” in their transfer stance.
Asked for the latest on the 25-year-old’s situation, boss Paul Heckingbottom said earlier this week: “He’s in next week, that’s it. He did well at Forest, but there’s been no offers. “We know they’re interested, he did great for them, but they’re probably interested in other left-backs as well if they want that.
“He’s our player. He did well, he did well in this league and, from my point of view, it’s more important that we’re getting players in before we’re letting them out.”
On whether a new contract could be in the offing, Heckingbottom added: “There’s no need, Max has still got a few years left with us so there’s no rush. We were speaking all the way through.
“He’s been at a team that’s got promoted. Fantastic. But that’s also fantastic for us because he’s our player. There’s no issues there. All along, the dialogue was always about him coming back and getting in our team and being our player, so nothing’s changed.”
Lowe is expected to head to Portugal with United this weekend for pre-season training, unless talks progress. Wing-back is an area Forest will look to strengthen as they prepare for their top-flight return.
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